SPRING 2018 Chindit Centenarian John Walkinton
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SPRING2018 the Chindit Column The boldest measures are the safest Our Aims and Objectives for the Society To protect and maintain the legacy and good name of the Chindits and their great deeds during the Burma Campaign. To carry that name forward into the public domain, through presentations and education. To gather together and keep safe The Chairman’s Message Chindit writings, memoirs and A warm welcome to all members. As you will see, our editor has other treasures for the benefit of produced another excellent newsletter. This one especially, as it future generations. commemorates the 75th Anniversary of Operation Longcloth. I would like to congratulate all those committee members involved To assist families and other in the production of the Longcloth Diary on our website. Please log interested parties in seeking out the on and read about the progress of the Chindits on a day-by-day basis. I wish to remind all members about the Memorial Service to history of their Chindit relative or be held at The National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday 9th loved one. June 2018, followed by the Annual Chindit Dinner at the Village Hotel in Walsall. Attendance and Dinner Booking forms are Wherever possible, to ensure the enclosed. An order of service will follow shortly and I look continued well being of all our forward to seeing you there. Finally, please take a peek at our Chindit veterans. merchandise page, where, amongst other items, we have produced a special 75th Anniversary tie. Inside this issue Agnes McGearey Chindwin Dinner New Merchandise Page 5 Pages 6 & 7 Page 12 Read about our An event hosted by Take a look at our Chindits favourite the new 77 Brigade new range of Nurse. on 27th January Chindit Society 2018. merchandise. THE CHINDIT COLUMN SPRING 2018 Chindit Centenarian John Walkinton John Riggs writes about his old friend, John Walkinton who celebrated his 100th birthday on 10th January 2018. At the outbreak of WW2 John was working in Palestine with a citrus fruit export firm. A few years previously he had been in the Territorial Army, but had to resign when he went abroad to work. When war was declared, John applied to the Middle East GHQ, and was commissioned into the 1st Battalion, The Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment. He saw service with them in Greece, Syria and the Lebanon and then in September 1941 the battalion joined 14th Brigade under the command of the 70th Infantry Division. Also included in this Division were 16th and 23rd Brigades, all of whom became Chindits on Operation Thursday. Previously in 1941, the whole Division had been transported by the Royal Navy from Alexandria to Tobruk in Libya; the port was besieged by the German Afrika Korps, who were very keen to capture it. The British, Australians, Poles and other Allied forces kept the enemy out. When the siege ended in November 1941, the Division withdrew to Egypt. Early in 1942, the whole Division was transported to India. The individual Brigades were tasked as independent groups with some Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, RAMC Field Hospitals and so on attached, and dispersed widely across the country. The Brigades performed internal security duties, as Gandhi and the banned Congress Party were causing unrest and rioting all over India. In the autumn of 1943, the 14th Brigade commander summoned all the officers to parade. He had with him a Colonel from the Black Watch who told us that we were to take part in a Long Range Penetration operation deep into Burma. Each battalion was to be divided into two separate columns and lose all its vehicles, which would be replaced by mules. At the time 14th Brigade was stationed near Bangalore in Southern India, 16th Brigade was in Ceylon and 23rd Brigade elsewhere far away. All these Brigades were moved to Northern India to a more suitable part of the country. The reorganisation into columns led to a number of men leaving the battalion. This included John Walkinton who went on a succession of staff jobs over the next few months. Eventually he was placed at Chindit HQ under Wingate and later Lentaigne. Operation Thursday ended in July/August 1944 and soon after the Chindits were disbanded. John Walkinton was repatriated to the UK and the following year demobilised from the Army. The 77th Brigade Collect Almighty Father, Our sure hope and safe stronghold; Grant, we beseech Thee, that we, thy servants of 77th Brigade, May be wise as serpents and innocent as doves And, resolving that the boldest measures are the safest, May in all things and all places Conduct ourselves with dauntless courage in the service of Justice and Truth, Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 2 21 THE CHINDIT COLUMN SPRING 2018 The 75th Anniversary of Operation Longcloth Seventy-five years ago, on the 15th February Brigadier Wingate later remarked: 1943, the first of Wingate’s Chindits crossed Although some of us did not come back. They over the Chindwin River and began their have done something for their country. They incursion into enemy held territory. Their aim, have demonstrated a new kind of warfare, the to prove the theories of Long Range Penetration combination of the oldest with the newest and moreover, the potential and power of methods. They have not been thrown away. keeping a Brigade in the field, supplied entirely from the air. We have proved today that we can beat the Japanese on his own chosen ground. And as Over 3000 men and mules went into Burma here, so will it be elsewhere. that year, but sadly, many would never return from their trials behind enemy lines. As already announced in January, to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the first Wingate expedition, there will be a memorial service held at the National Arboretum, Alrewas, followed by the Chindit Society Annual Dinner at the Village Hotel, Walsall on Saturday 9th June 2018. Further information about this event, including booking details for the Village Hotel, can be found on the separate forms attached to this newsletter. The Chindit Society’s own website now contains a week-to-week diary, marking the progress of the first Wingate expedition in 1943. The diary includes extracts from Bernard Fergusson’s book, Beyond the Chindwin, alongside many contemporary photographs taken from inside Burma. To access the diary please click on the following link: http://thechinditsociety.org.uk/operation-longcloth Did You Know? That W.D.A. Lentaigne was appointed the Acting Commander of Special Force, from 7th October to the 10th November 1943, while Major-General Wingate was in hospital. This promotion period thus enabled him to achieve and retain the rank of Acting (Unpaid) Major General from that point onward. It may also throw some light on why he, and not Michael Calvert eventually assumed command of the 3rd Indian Infantry Division after Wingate’s untimely death. At Comilla on the 5th May 1944, 51 Column received a surprise visit from an ENSA touring party, including Vera Lynn. The Chindits had only recently been flown out of Burma from the Aberdeen stronghold at Manhton. 3 21 THE CHINDIT COLUMN SPRING 2018 A Warm Welcome for a Gurkha Hero At 1600 hours on the 4th July 2007, a Virgin Atlantic flight from New Delhi landed at Heathrow’s Terminal 3. On board was one Tul Bahadur Pun VC. After several months’ deliberation, the British Government had finally agreed to grant Tul Bahadur a settlement visa for the UK. Taken from the Daily Mail newspaper dated 2nd June 2007: A Gurkha war hero will be allowed to stay in the UK after the Home Office backed down in the face of mounting criticism. The Home Secretary, John Reid remarked: This decision was not taken lightly and reflects the extraordinary nature of this case, in particular Mr. Pun’s heroic record in service of Britain, which saw him awarded the Victoria Cross. It is entirely right that this record should not only be recognised but also honoured. We have also taken in to account his current medical condition. The 84 year-old Gurkha’s actions on the 23rd June 1944, won him Royal admirers at that time and he was invited to the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 and had tea with the Queen Mother. The Home Office sparked outrage when it originally declined a settlement visa, stating that Tul Bahadur had failed to demonstrate strong ties with the UK. Mr. Pun, who receives a £130 per month Army pension, wishes to move from Nepal because of his failing health. He has to travel a whole day to a Gurkha camp to collect his pension and has to be carried in a basket by several men from his village. Indian born actress, Joanna Lumley has led a campaign to allow Tul Bahadur to come and live in Britain. She stated: I have known the name Bahadur Pun since I was four. He was an absolute hero in our household because he saved so many lives through his bravery in 1944, including that of my own father. We owe this man a huge debt and it is disgraceful he could be treated so badly by our government. He is suffering from very poor health and cannot easily receive the medical attention he needs in Nepal. Tul Bahadur Pun eventually settled down in the London Borough of Hounslow, where he lived for 4 years. On the 20th April 2011, during a brief visit home to Nepal to open a school in the village of Myagdi, Tul Bahadur unexpectedly passed away. Listen to a Chindit Memoir The audio memoir for Deryck Groocock a Pilot with 194 Squadron RAF can now be listened to on line.